No. 21 Virginia Tech Hokies

Editor’s Note: Beginning every May 1, Athlon Sports counts toward the release of its College Football Annuals by releasing one spot in its Top 25 every weekday for five weeks. The No. 1 team will be revealed June 4. Check AthlonSports.com every day to see who’s next in the countdown. The 2008 College Football Annuals hit newsstands June 3rd.

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has a pair of quarterbacks with complementary styles — Sean Glennon, the dropback passer, and Tyrod Taylor, the dual threat; and he has an offensive line with four returning starters. What he doesn’t have is a ball-carrier who has proven himself as an every-down back or a wide receiver who caught more than three passes in game action last year.

Glennon was 143-of-235 for 1,796 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air while sharing the job with Taylor, who was 72-of-134 with five touchdown tosses. Taylor’s value lies in his ability to create plays and turn a bad situation into something good. There is a host of candidates for the tailback job, though at the moment Taylor is the best ball-carrier on the team. The most accomplished receivers back from last year are tight ends Sam Wheeler and Greg Boone, with 26 receptions and one touchdown between them. Converted quarterbacks Ike Whitaker and Cory Holt and speedy, athletic Zach Luckett will try to fill the void left by the graduation of the top four wide receivers.

Replacing linebackers Xavier Adibi and Vince Hall and cornerback Brandon Flowers — last year’s top three tacklers — is a challenge. But rover Kam Chancellor and linebacker Cam Martin can pick up the slack. Orion Martin racked up 10.5 tackles for a loss and batted down five passes, and is back at end. Cornerback Victor “Macho“ Harris, with five interceptions and one returned for a score last year, will slide over into the boundary corner vacated by Flowers.

The Hokies will travel to North Carolina in September then to Boston College and Florida State back-to-back in October. Maryland and Virginia both come calling in Blacksburg in November.

The defenders As usual, the Hokie defense ranked among the nation’s best last year, finishing fifth against the run, fourth overall and third against scoring.

Stopping drives The Virginia Tech defense also finished fourth nationally in third-down efficiency defense, allowing opponents to convert on only 65 of 223 attempts.

Double digits Virginia Tech has won 10 or more games in each of the last four seasons.

Virginia Tech superlatives:

CB Victor Harris is named Second-Team All-America and First-Team All-ACC.

OL Sergio Render, S Kam Chancellor and P Brent Bowden are named Second-Team All-ACC.

OL Ed Wang is named Third-Team All-ACC.

You can read the entire Virginia Tech preview in the 2008 Athlon Sports College Football magazine, available for purchase now at the Athlon Sports store.

Also coming to AthlonSports.com this summer:
— Top 25 Heisman Hopefuls
— Live chats with Athlon editors
— Conference-preview videocasts
— Launch of the 2009 Athlon Consensus 100
— Athlon's college fantasy football draft kit

Other in-season offerings:
— Previews for every college football game
— Fantasy games
— Sideline Spirit voting
— Scenes From Saturday
— Updated Athlon 119
— Much more

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